A Little on Quilt History

Well, the snow has melted and there has been some beautiful weather but the Winter/Spring transition is fickle and we are expecting a winter-like storm tonight and tomorrow. Before I give a status report on the quilt, I want to summarize some tidbits from my reading on quilt history, namely because I have to return the book in a few hours!

From the book Quilts The American Story by Susan Jenkins and Linda Seward:

Nice Cover

Post-Revolutionary War, a tradition arose for neighborhoods to interact through cooperative labor; tasks included clearing timber, house and barn raisings, and needlework and textile production a la the “quilting bee”. Social gatherings for quilting occurred even on the frontier when possible despite the distances between households.

Early industrialization of textile manufacturing created an abundance of cotton prints and therefore, women of all social classes had the opportunity to take up quilting, a sort of democratization. In the 18^th century, all crafts and trades practiced in early America included at least a few women. In the 19^th century, these occupations came to be viewed as unsuitable for women because while men spent long hours at factories and offices, women took over the day-to-day control of household affairs. These roles were promoted and reinforced by evangelists, novelists, and politicians.

As the 19^th century progressed, American quilting developed its own designs in terms of patterns and colors. Quilts were displayed at home among prized possessions and in public at agricultural fairs. Women came together for production of quilts to raise funds for worthy causes; the peak effort being during the Civil War period which in addition to raising funds for supplies to soldiers, the quilts themselves were considered a supply. Despite the turbulent times, innovation persisted with the discovery of synthetic dyes and the invention of the sewing machine.

The post-Civil War story will continue…

So this is where I left off last time (with some sashing at the top):

The next step was to add the border strips. For the corner, I originally wanted to do the easy option, but because the border fabric has a lined pattern that needed to be matched, miter corners were required. The lined pattern using the easy option was too casual (dare I say sloppy?) even for me. 

The border strips need to exceed the edges so a 45-degree miter could be made with the fabric. This mitered corner is probably the most interesting construction step to date so I took photos of each mini step. First, the mitered corner is “estimated” and pressed (the patch is present when I had to switch from the easy option).

Second, with right sides together, the corner was pinned just a bit.

And finally sewn following the pressed crease and the fabric edge where the red plaid portion is.

The seam is pressed open and the excess fabric is trimmed away to result in:

So, the quilt top is officially finished. The next step is finishing with the actual quilting and will be in the next issue.